🎹 Video: These Parafolks Can Play The Piano
Hi, It’s Alex again for another Patreon post!
Today, I’m excited to introduce Paralives’ piano skill! First, watch the video above if you haven’t already 🎥🎹✨
In Paralives, your characters will be able to play the piano and progressively get better at it as they improve their skills. They might play a piece poorly at first but you will be able to hear their progress and see their movements getting better and better.
🎵 What Kind of Music Can Parafolks Play?
For the initial release of the game, Parafolks will be able to play various well-known classical music pieces from Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and more. We chose to do that because this music is free from copyrights. Also, we thought most people would have fun recognizing them while playing the game. Furthermore, Andrei already has a lot of work creating the original soundtrack for Paralives so not having to compose new music for the in-game piano skill saves us a lot of time!
In the future, Andrei could compose original pieces for the piano skill and also, in addition to classical music, we could add many different styles that Parafolks could play with the piano like jazz, blues, pop and more. Maybe your characters could even play tracks from the Paralives soundtrack! ✨
👨💻 Behind the Scenes: Making of the Animations and Piano Tracks
Creating the piano skill for Paralives required good coordination and planning within the team. It was a fun project to work on! Here’s how it went.
1️⃣ Step 1: Making the piano itself
Chloé created this beautiful piano object that you can place in build mode. Andrei advised Chloé to make sure that our piano is realistic and up to the standards!
Chloé’s piano with some extra clutter which I much enjoyed placing. We are also planning to add a grand piano and an electronic keyboard to the game.
2️⃣ Step 2: Recording reference videos of Andrei playing the piano
To help Alice create the animations of Parafolks playing the piano at different skill levels, Andrei filmed himself playing difficult pieces as well as easier ones while acting like he was just starting to learn.
Wow, that’s fast! I’m guessing this is not for the low skill level animation… (Note that if you are viewing this post on a mobile device, the GIFs might not play for you).
3️⃣ Step 3: Creating the animations of characters playing the piano
For now, Alice has made three piano playing animations for different skill levels: low, medium and high. They required a ton of work because each finger moves quite a lot and very fast! More piano animations could be added in the future.
Props to Alice for animating all these subtle hand and finger movements!
4️⃣ Step 4: Recording the audio tracks for when Parafolks play the piano
Parafolks can play many different music pieces and Andrei recorded himself playing each of them. Alice didn’t create an animation for each music track, where we would see the character play the real notes we hear. That would have required a tremendous amount of work! Instead, to give you an example, Andrei plays all the medium level tracks at the same tempo so that it fits relatively well with the movement of the hands in the animation that was made at the same specific tempo.
Andrei is playing in sync with the movement of the character in Alice’s animation to record the audio you’ll hear when your Paras play piano.
💡 Going Further
Some more ideas we might explore in the future related to the piano or music in general:
➕ More instruments: We’re planning to add one other musical instrument for the release of the game but more could come later.
👩👩👧 Ability to play music as a group: Multiple Parafolks could perform together, each using their own instrument. Starting a band and playing at venues would be really fun!
🎤 Singing while playing: Parafolks could sing while using the piano
📝 Composing new tracks: Your characters could try their hand at creating their own masterpieces.
Please clap for the Parafolks who showed us their piano skills today!
Hope you liked this overview of the piano skill in Paralives! It was really amazing for me to see it come to life thanks to Chloé’s piano, Alice’s animations and Andrei’s recordings. Tell us what you think in the comments below!
Cheers,
Alex
Edit - September 14th, 2023: This post is now public, feel free to share it!
Comments (109)
what was the first song so beautiful!!
I have a clock that plays the tune from the Medium level
I loooove the idea of characters being able to compose their music, especially if it's controlled by the player in some way! It'd be cool to be able to create/import MIDIs that your para can play!
this is so awesome watching you guys make this game over these last couple years
OMG I love you guys so much.. I'm just imagining my Paras doing concerts and big shows everywhere makes me so happy, We need crowd animations, with phone flashes... like a real super star in a concert
This is really awesome! Though I do think there should be a real beginner low level where they are playing Wrong notes and simple songs like ode to joy. Starting out with perfect Chopin off the bat isn’t realistic even if it is really cool.
Guys, I don't think you realize. The paras are actually playing the correct notes. Its not just animation, but for the first two pieces at least, they are actually playing correctly. You guys are doing such good work!
The beginning killed me the way he’s using the piano with the song that’s playing, it’s amazing
wowwww, amazing!
I saw this late but, but oh my god! This is incredible; I'm in love with these animations 😁 The few tracks you played were lovely, I love the composers that you've picked. I used to be a ballerina and I've always held a love for classical music. It would be wonderful if, while hearing a Para play, a different Parafolk could dance to the music or maybe hum along. Just an idea because I know it's something I would do. Glorious work as always! Good day! 🤗
OMG this is beautiful! I know how hard it is to create animations for a game, especially something with that level of complexity! Congratulations Alice and Andrei you guys are awesome ❤
Omg the animations are soooooo beautiful ! That stands out alot !
I love the idea of paras being able to perform in groups!
Love seeing the behind the scenes, smart to have Andrei play in-sync with the animations. Also forming bands??! amazing idea! ❤️
Amazing work! Piano animation isn't easy! Great work on Andrei, you've got skills!
I think it would be cool if we can add our own music
The modding tools will probably allow for it
omg i'm gonna make a 3 member group if you choose to include a band aspect.
The idea for a band genuinely makes me so happy. Please include that, if not base game then for later!!
Wow, the animations are amazing! Well done!
It was very interesting to see how Alice and Andrei are working together! I really enjoyed this post. Also, I would absolutely LOVE to make my parafolks play as a band!
This looks really nice, although they are way too similar to one another and the last animation didn't look like it went with the rythm of the song, the parafolk moved too slow and that song was pretty fast 🤔
This animation look amazing and really fluid, I would be so happy that we’ll be able to create a band and play in front of a crowd. It allows a lot of storytelling. Thank you for your hard work❤️
The animation was really fluid!
This looks amazing and I love that we'll be able to have bands!
it is also necessary that the feet press on the pedal to have a nice sound
If we could create a band in Paralives and perform in front of an audience I would be so happy!!!!
WOW guys this is so impressive!!!
Using skills as a group is such a fun way to build unique stories. Will members of a band get bandmate labels like how how there's the "cooking buddies" label?
Incidentally, can anyone give the names of the piano pieces in this video? I recognize them idk the names please forgive my ignorance abt classical music🥲
1. Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie 2. Nocturne No. 2 in Eb major by Chopin 3. Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement by Beethoven!
👏
+1 on all the comments so far but can I add… that wall paneling? It looks so good!!
Play in a band!? Yesss!!! You don't know how much I've wanted this feature! Also my heart melted at the first piano piece, I love that song, I just never know the name of it 😭 Lovely developments 💕
Thank you ZLoves! The piece you heard is Gymnopédie No.1 by Erik Satie
This is totally awesome. Many, many thanks
Soooo excited, this is perfect for the release. 3 skills levels, incredible animation and recognizable pieces! Chapeau once again!! I agree with all the ideas especially starting a band (take notes for future in-depth teens game play : starting a rock or pop or rnb band after school)
I'm actually really hopeful there will be a master level and perhaps an opportunity for music/performance school, tuition, training with the aspiration to be a professional! Love this :)
This is masterful. I love this so much. Thank you for the love you are putting into this game, team Paralives
oooh yes band gameplay would be awesome, especially with different genres of music.
I can't code, mod, or play piano - so I have nothing but the highest respect for all the hard work & effort going into this project! It looks fabulous for a game that's not even in early access yet. It is great to see these core gameplay components coming together. One thing I remember being a distinction between beginners & intermediate is the development from very staccato playing into more legato. So maybe if you want to use the same songs for different skill levels, you could do the low skill version(s) with very staccato & unconnected notes, and then have a recording of the same song, but legato, for a higher skill level. Another idea is songs that have more complex composition at higher levels - for example, Frere Jacques can be played at very low level and then revisited at medium or higher with the Frere Jacques by Mel Bonis. I don't know about what might be under copyright - but here are some of the things I remember about back when I was taking piano lessons.... and just to be transparent, I'm going to try skipping the established or normative whyte men (Bach, Beethoven, Hadyn, Chopin, etc) since it seems like you already have those covered. • very low skill: chopsticks, heart & soul (one hand / duet), happy birthday, mary had a little lamb, twinkle twinkle little star, frere jacques, jingle bells, Minuet in F major (Elisabetta de Gambarini), Water Sprite (Florence Goodrich), L’Ocell (Narcisa Freixas), The Rowboat (Felicitas Kukuck), Joker (Barbara Heller) • low skill: Menuet (Élisabeth Jacquet), A Harvest Reel (Marjory Kennedy-Fraser), Pierrot Sautille (Hedwige Chrétien), Sonata no2 "Andante" (Anna Bon), National Polish Dances: No. 14 (Maria Szymanowska), Song of Youth (Agathe Backer Grondahl), Piano Suite in E Major: III. Minuet (Ethel Smyth), Frère Jacques (Mel Bonis) • medium skill: Etudes op.50 no.15 (Louise Farrenc), 8 Preludes, Op. 12: No. 7. Einfach (Luise Adolpha Le Beau), Gavotte in A minor Op 123, no 5 (Cecile Chaminade), Walzer-Capricen, Op. 28: No. 8, Grazioso, allegremente ( Dora Pejačević), On A Southern Balcony (Blanche Ray Alden pseud: Theodora Dutton) • high skill: Sonata in E major - Allegro (Marianna von Martines), Atraente (Chiquinha Gonzaga), Sous Les Étoiles (Amy Beach), Prelude in D flat major (Lili Boulanger), September: At the River (Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel), Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major Op. 16: No. 2 (Clara Schumann), Plainte elegía, No. 1, Op. 17 (Teresa Carreño), Mother's Sacrifice (L. Viola Kinney) These last two, I don't have a particular reference song at approx level... but just anything at from these ladies would be awesome, if you can find a place to platform their musical contributions! Florence Price and Margaret Bonds. I'm pretty sure that everything by Florence Price should be free from copyright by now. Margaret Price was more contemporary, so her stuff might not be public domain yet, maybe.
Hey Amata! Thank you so much for all these propositions! I seriously love the idea of using classical repertoire other than the one from the white men mainstream. I'll bring it up with the team and I hope we seriously consider it. We might not have time to add this for early access but I'm pretty sure we could do it in later updates! Also, that's a great idea using staccato notes and avoid legato in the Low skill level to make it sound less "advanced". Brilliant! Thanks again!
Wow! It's very slow and simple, but even at skill level very low, you can really hear him trying to play Gymnopédie No.1 by Erik Satie.
I want to be able to teach how to play a piano a little para as an adult parafolk!
Beautiful! I have so much appreciation for the thought, intention and research behind every detail of the game development ! It’s this deep and solid foundation that makes me so excited for this!
Thank you so much everyone for the kind words and feedback <3 <3 <3
Amazing work as always team Para! <3
I absolutely love this ! The choice of music to show the skill progression and the animations was a pleasure to watch and listen too. I will actually enjoy leveling up my paras skill, instead of it being a chore. Well done guys ! It really is showing how confident you're all becoming, and growing so well together as a team. 🫶🫶👏👏
That look and sound really good ! Do you know if it can be possible to let us import a midi files to the game so we can make our Para play ever song we want ? It would be cool ! And I think it's possible, the only problem is, our Para will maybe not follow the song with the good animations but anyway even with that I will take it ! <3
Yes, it will be possible to add new tracks for your Parafolks to play on piano using our in-game modding interface and it shouldn't be too hard to do!
Loving that barbie mug Andrei is using too lol!
Yes! Someone noticed, haha!
Looks great!! I really love seeing the animation processes, so interesting <3
Looks great! Sounds great. Definitely hope for more types of music, group playing, and composing later on. I think the low skill should be even lower though? Like medium/low seems the same to me, low seems they should still be taking long breaks in-between and maybe a stutter here and there. Beginner should be even rougher. But very fun and exciting 😊
I also feel like low is holding their wrists more correctly than I did when I first learned piano, but maybe that was just me 😂
Lovely lovely ..it would be fun, though, if very beginner players had the occasional mistake 😜
Yes! Andrei was planning on adding small mistakes to the low level recordings soon!
I love that you used a reference player. This is so amazing! 👏👏
I really love the animation and fluidity! So cool. Will we be able to choose a specific piece for our para to play ? Or several like at a recital ? The transition between the very low level and low level seems a bit too smooth. I remember how hard it was to play both hand even with only one note for each hand. Chords were really hard to get.
I was half expecting the low level to play the left hand perfectly and then stop the left hand to do the right hand.
*clap* Encore! Seriously, amazing, and huge props to everyone on the team! Andrei, Chloe, and Alice especially (and you too, Marvin).
oh! it's very nice !
The animation was top TIER!!
I love this!! Props to Andrei, Chloe and Alice! I would like it if my para could not learn to play, not everyone is musically inclined.
Thanks for the idea! Maybe some characters could be naturally gifted while others would be the opposite
Great job! I would love to have more instruments, including classical ones. It would be fun if a student could join band, orchestra, or choir as a club. :) Or maybe Paras could take lessons and their skill would go up faster?
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions! Lessons are definitely something we are interested in looking into later down the development road
The movements look so realistic ! It really feels like we're looking at the real keys being used properly, especially for the slower pieces. It doesn't look random, there's something so deliberate in the way the Parafolks are animated ! This looks absolutely fantastic, and it certainly makes me feel like the pianists are actually "thinking" and "feeling" the music being played. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, it got me teary-eyed ; in this moment, the Paras felt real. Thank you so much to Andrei, Chloé and Alice for their amazing team work, eye for detail, and skills. Will Paras only learn music on their own, or will it be possible for them to be tutored ? On a sidenote : I think I asked a few months ago, but is there any chance there could be a Mastodon account for Paralives ? Even if it's just automated reposts from "X" for now. But um... yeah given the recent events, it's becoming a more and more pressing matter imho.
Awww, thanks so much, I too was moved when I saw the results! We'd like to add the ability for Paras to teach to other Paras in the future, it would be great Regarding Mastodon, it could be nice to publish our news and updates there as well. We just started to publish on Threads and we might start publishing on other platforms as well depending on the amount of people we can reach on each of these new platforms. We are still looking into all this, thank you for the suggestion!
I liked the music a lot! I hope maybe in the future it's planned to actually have singing and maybe bands you can make careers out of.
Thank you! We'd like to consider adding these features after the initial release of the game!
I'm so excited to know music will be a wonderful addition to our Para's lives. I can already envision the melodious sounds filling the atmosphere!! So lovely and great work!! 💕 👏
Wow Marvin's always surprising :O
Yes!! I’m so happy there will be playable instruments 😍 I really like how the piano looks, and everything looks and sounds amazing! This is making me incredibly excited! Also love all the potential ideas for the future! Especially the one about playing together and playing in bands! That would be so cool!
Well done on the incredible teamwork! I'm really impressed by Andrei playing in sync with the animations, I never would have thought that's how it was done! I also really love that you used known classical songs. It seems like a really smart idea, and it is definitely nice to recognize the music! It would be SO COOL if the Paralives soundtrack songs were playable in the future like you mentioned! :D One thing I noticed in the video is that the low skill and medium skill songs sound like they are being played by a high skill player. Even though the song is slower and less complicated than the high skill song, it feels like there is a confidence and dynamics that a low skill player might not have. You mentioned "They might play a piece poorly at first but you will be able to hear their progress," so I hope that means that perhaps there will sometimes be mistakes or hesitation when a lower skill player plays, even if it wasn't included in the video today. I also really love the basket of books on the floor <3 Thank you so much for your hard work and for sharing!!!
Thanks so much for all your nice words and good feedback, it's really appreciated! I agree that this low level piece might sound too good at the moment. We will be tweaking some of the tracks :)
According to my old guitar notebook, "Frère Jacques" is not copyrighted. AND practically everyone knows it, so it's a good choice for an international audience. Are you guys using https://www.pdinfo.com/ as a reference for your copyright-free music? :)
You are right about Frère Jacques! I didn't know about this site, it's a good reference, thanks for sharing!
It's amazing❤️❤️🌟🌟 Hiii Alex🇧🇷!! Os parafolkes usarão os ítens de forma autônoma? O que mais me surpreende no Sims 1 e 2 é que os objetos são como feromônio para formigas isso faz com que os sims usem os objetos de forma autônoma conforme sua necessidade no momento como diversão, entretenimento, lazer e etc... Os nossos parafolkes serão capazes de ter esse sistema para que possamos vê-los Vivos e Interagindo com mais frequência com as coisas ao seu redor?
This is incredible! How will some parafolk interact with live performance? Will some sway to the music, tap their foot, or pull their partner in for an impromptu dance? Personally I would love to see some swing dancing but some gentle slow dancing would be fun too
That would be really cool! We'd like to look into how other Paras could react when there's a musician performing
Give us all the instruments! 💗🎹
OK OK I'M OFFICALLY EXCITED! Between this, and the gardening, AS WELL as the whole one sided relationship system you have cooking up. I just can't wait for everyone to learn about these. I don't know what I'm excited about the most. We offically have hobbies and skills in the game. Oh my goodness!! This is huge! Alright, trying to calm down. One thing I worry about is the comment about having one extra instrument for release. Does that mean full release? If we're talking early access, that's completely understandable. However, it would be a bit disappointing if during the entire game's run you can only play with two instruments. I don't expect you guys to be able to handle every instrument ever, cause jeepers. I do hope it's more than two though. Even three or four would be great. Again though, I'm really hyped about this update. You guys are doing awesomely!!
Thank you so much, glad you are excited about what we're working on!! :D When I say release, I mean the very first early access release. We will most likely add new instruments in updates after that
I love this! I love that its actually music we know. I love the movements/animations. My only little let down is that the piano keys do not go down when the keys are meant be pressed. It would just add to the realism and depth.
Thank you! Seeing the keys go down would be a really nice detail! However it would be a big technical challenge and require time that we prefer to invest in adding other skills than piano to the game. We have many more skills to work on and integrate before launch
These look great! The piano doesn't look unlike my old piano, lol!! Alice even got the circular arm and hand movements flowing in a lovely way. :-) No complaints about beginning in a classical direction from me! I love classical piano music!! Could we have Fur Elise by any chance? It's a popular 'learning' piece, and that was my favourite piece to learn (and play badly ,lol). I'm also wondering if, down the track, it might be possible to mod in our own audio files for piano (probably for the higher skill, of course). If you make that possible for radio stations in the future, might it also be easily possible to add this modding to piano (and other instruments) as well? Another thing I'd love to see is teaching of piano. Particularly for kids learning piano. Is that possible for the future, after release perhaps? Piano duets would be nice for after release also (two people on the one piano seat).
Thank you! Fur Elise is already in the game actually! Having the ability to teach the piano and other skills in general is something we will be looking into
Having Alice on your team is such a win. Compared to other life Sims competitors her animations are just wow. I think the quality of her animations will give the game an amazing vibe!
While I think a guitar would be the best choice of basic instrument, I would also like to see drums added maybe later, I feel like they're criminally underused, percussion in general really.
A full drum kit would be cool, but it'd also be nice to have something a little more portable like small bongos or a cajon.
Can't wait to see child and preteen para play instruments too!
Yes, they will be able to play too!
"She's really good" I loved everything👏👏👏
Ohhhh! ich super excited about this. I think using classical music is the best choice here and i'm glad that you're going with this. You said that maybe paras would compose their own song, maybe these could be original songs that are added later that angrei would compose? Anyways i really love the idea of being able to sing and play together. Maybe with more instruments doen the line it would be fantastic if teen paras could make a band! It would be super fun and give some variety in the activities for differen age groups! Anyways this makes me miss my old piano :'D Great update as usual! I have a question though, not just about the music but generally the hobbies and skills in paralives. You said that scriptmods are not planned and i'm not entirely sure what exactely this means. Would the current system allow us to mod our own skills? I'm just a little curious so if you don't have an answer right now feel free to ignore the question :D
Thank you for the kind words and feedback! Modders won't be able to write new code and features for the game but our modding tools and interface are very flexible so modders will be able to edit existing skills or create whole new skills along with their associated interactions, character animations, objects, audio, etc
Brilliant. Simply brilliant 😊
I feel like a guitar would be the other basic instrument I'd like to see. Beautiful work
One thing I think would be a great addition is something like chopsticks! I'd love to have that or just a few general pieces that multiple Paras could play together on one Piano, but how doable it is, I'm not sure but even for it to be considered would be great 🥺
Looking forward to seeing what the other planned instrument is. Guitar probably has the broadest appeal next to piano, but something like recorder would be a classic for younger Paras. Psyched to see group performances in the future.
I really like the animations! Props to Alice 🥰
Very nice. I really liked the music choosen. However, the low levels of skill are sounding pretty good to me. Too good! I think it should be a little more awkward and clumsy. =)
Thank you! And thanks for the feedback, we might add more imperfections to them!
That's some amazing teamwork! Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to this game :)
The hand animations are impressive! I believe it's still a work in progress, and as they improve, it would be great to see the characters moving their hands on the piano keys to match the actual music being played. In the final part of the video, it's evident that the character is playing something different from what we hear. By adding that detail, it would make the performance even more authentic. On a positive note, the piano and the room look fantastic. Overall, you did an excellent job, and your work continues to surprise and impress us! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you!! Here's what we went for regarding your comment: "Alice didn’t create an animation for each music track, where we would see the character play the real notes we hear. That would have required a tremendous amount of work! Instead, to give you an example, Andrei plays all the medium level tracks at the same tempo so that it fits relatively well with the movement of the hands in the animation that was made at the same specific tempo."
The animations are fantastic. Would love to see a saxophone in game! Can't wait to play Paralives, but saying that im so happy you're not rushing to release it.
Maybe there's room for improvement, but I really like the hands animations. And the sound track choices are top notch!
The animations look so good! 👏👏